I have been using Power Director 10 for some time now and have recently upgraded to 11. I create a lot of animated clips in various different programs like Bryce and Animation Master. Once I have my clips all set up I can import them directly into Power Director and create seamless video adding voice over, sound effects, video effects and so much more. I have found no other editing software even close to the price range that can compete with the quality of Power Director. Check out the Cyberlink Power Director suite here.
Power Director 11 Ultimate has the most powerful, quickest video editing ever! Packed full with innovative video technologies to automate and speed up video editing time, support for 4K res formats, and extra premium content to ramp up your video production with pro-looking design styles and templates, it has the most comprehensive set of tools you’ll need. Power Director Ultimate also includes Power Director Mobile for you to create videos on-the-go with your Windows® 8 Tablets.
Even if you’re not looking for editing software at the moment it’s worth the visit to Cyberlink Power Director.
Talk to you soon
Mark
Yes you heard it correctly; the Star Wars franchise was purchased for 4.5 Billion on October 26th read more he
re. Not sure how I feel about the change but I personally don’t think they will do a bad job. Reflecting on the epic release of Tron and its huge box office success I have high hopes.
Star Wars 7 to hit theaters in 2015 in read more
Time will tell,
What are your thoughts.
Mark
3D-Animationsoftware.info just launched a new Facebook Fan Page and in honor of this we are giving away some animation software free.
For every 150 fan we reach we will give away a copy of Illusion Mage Software purchased by us.
Tell all your friends by liking us on Facebook and you could be the one.
Thanks for your support
Animation Mark
Click here to join us on Facebook.
If you are like me nothing but the best will do, if you have been on the Blog recently you will see I have an ad for Illusion Mage 3D animation software. The reviews from my partners were nothing but spectacular which is why it was placed on the Blog.
Until now I have used a much more expensive piece of software to create my animations, 3D models and still life’s. After much nagging and pleading from the guys to get me to try illusion Mage just so I could give them my opinion on the product I gave in and gave it a go. Perhaps my opinion of more money means more product has been changed.
Judging by the video at illusionmage.com I could see that some quality had gone into the building of the software. After using illusion Mage for a while I found that there are far more tools offered than in my own personal choice of animation software.
- The 3D Modeling is amazing weather for game design, animation or stills.
- The interface makes you feel like the mouse is an extension of your arm.
- The enhanced 3D rendering is fast and clean.
- The 3D shading ads a realness that I could only find using post project programs like adobe.
- And the list just keeps going.
This is an all in one animation suite and yes it is very sweet!
I can’t believe I have just started using Illusion Mage and can’t say enough good stuff about it. Not to mention dolor for dolor you can get into this software for as little as $47 buck where as my personal software cost me around $1800 bucks. That’s a no brainer.
Check out Illusion mages video here.
Until next time
Mark
And have fun finding the artist within you
P.S. thanks for hanging in while the Blog was fixed.
There is nothing worse than losing the ability to create what you love. One of the ways I have found to combat the artistic block is to start with a fresh idea. Doing this is not always as easy as it sounds but can be easy enough if you’re motivated.
One of the things I have found about myself is a lot of my art work and style of art seems to have a common thread. In the exercise I will be stepping out of my artistic comfort zone to break the block.
The first thing I do is to visit a site that offers free 3d Objects or models like Renderosity.com or sharecg.com and browse by the software I will be using for the project. While I browse I am constantly looking up each item that I find that I think would be a nice center piece to my picture. As an example I recently found a nice model of a North American F-86 Sabre jet, while researching the jet I found that it was the primary fighter jet of the Korean War and primarily found itself in dog fights with the Mig-15.
The point is while I am looking at and researching the Sabre and its origins, how it’s supposed to look and what the natural surroundings are I am building a story in my head and as the story builds the Block starts to break down. Keeping notes is essential if you want a period piece or a final project that’s accurate to look at. I guess what I mean is if you were to put a Korean War era jet in a modern airport setting it might not look correct.
With my notes in hand and a period accurate jet I am ready to create. I use both my note and my mouse as my script and the story will come out on the screen.
The picture that I am writing about here is not complete but well on its way and that’s the important part.
For more ideas on breaking the Artistic Block check this link
Happy creating
Mark
It’s been a while since my last post and I am glad to see there is still a lot of interest in the site, thanks for the letters and support.
Recently I have been able to sit down and work on some of my projects that have been on hole and get some of my 3D Art flowing again. In searching for some 3D models I have found a site that seems to have a ton of stuff.
Check out Share CG here.
I have found during my hiatus that 3D art and creating it is like anything else, if you don’t practice you get rusty so practice, practice, practice. I am a little rusty but will be putting up some of my work in the future. Until then I would love to see what everyone else is up to. If you would like to send me some work you are doing drop me a line at amgmark@rocketmail.com also let me know if the work is private or you would like it posted in future blogs. You will get all the credit for your art and I will be sure to add a link to you or your site.
Hope to hear from you all soon and keep searching for the artist within.
Mark
Japanese Anime and American cartoons are similar in the sense that they’re both animated features. However, a lot of people argue that they are not at all the same. Let’s cite the top differences between these two.
The Storyline.
American cartoons are best described as targeting a younger demographic. They usually feature a relatively simple story that is easy for kids to follow. Even feature-length animated movies from media giants still feature relatively simple plots, as show by their biggest films like Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story” and Dreamworks’ “Shrek” series.
Japanese Anime, on the other hand, caters not only to kids but also to an adult audience as well. Actually, there are some anime series that are not meant for a young audience at all. For example, the Isao Takahata’s “Grave of the Fireflies” revolves around the life of two Japanese children caught in the middle of World War II Japan. The story involves the children’s death from starvation.
The Characters.
Japanese Anime creators have the habit of endowing a real personality to an otherwise bland character. Usually, features of this genre are best described as having multiple protagonists who possess unique personas. For example, the series Masashi Kishimoto’s “Naruto” and Tite Kubo’s “Bleach” feature more than thirty protagonists each, without causing confusion among its viewers.
On the other hand, American cartoons usually center on just a few characters, possibly in keeping with their aim of avoiding confusion among its youthful audience. To illustrate, Disney’s fairy tale films like “Sleeping Beauty”, “Beauty and the Beast”, and “Mulan”, all center on a single character and whose other protagonists serve only as accessories to propagate the plot.
The Animation.
Japanese Anime uses more advanced techniques in the sense that only in Japanese anime will one see realistic illusions of fast and abrupt movements. For example, fighting anime features like Yoshihiro Togashi’s “Yu Yu Hakusho (Ghost Files)” or even the Satoshi Tajiri’s kid-centered “Pokemon” show fight scenes that provoke an illusion of real-life impact and speed.
On the other hand, American cartoons are increasingly becoming more reliant on computer-generated graphics that are, unfortunately, limited as of now. CG graphics are not very cost-efficient in showing quick character movements, as they focus more on fluid motion to counteract the computer’s tendency to make the characters’ moves look too robotic and unnatural.
All in all, this does not necessarily imply that American cartoons are inferior to Japanese anime. Instead, it just shows that the genre appeals to a wider market in Japan as compared to the US, which means that funding for the former is heftier than the latter.
Categories:
Uncategorized Tags:
Giving your creative spirit freedom to create 3D animation, objects, textures, etc can be very fun and satisfying. For those who are talented and artistic, the 3D world may be the next step. A job in this industry is very well paid and working with a team of professionals you can improve your skills much faster.
But we all have different goals when it comes to 3D art. Some people want to mod games, others want to create concepts (car design, architectural design, etc), some want to work in the movie industry creating special effects, compositing 3D with live footage, etc. And others are fascinated and curious to learn more about 3D art, but not yet interested enough to dive in.
Meeting your goals imply will power and the means and tools to achieve them. Most people fail early because they lack will power. Talent and inclination towards art alone are not sufficient to succeed in this area. Perseverance is key.
To succeed you need a bit of talent, a little patience and lots and lots of perseverance. If you have these qualities, the tools and means are many and diversified. By tools I mean a 3D software complete with animation, modeling tools, texturing, rendering and all you will need as an artist.
It is understandable that those who are just starting out spend a lot of time finding and choosing “the perfect” software with which to begin. There is no such thing as the perfect software, only the perfect software for your needs. It is important which software you choose because you are going to invest money in the software’s license (and possibly professional training) and also time to learn how to use it. Professional training with qualified instructors is usually expensive for most.
You do not want to buy a software that is too complex and hard to learn because you risk frustrating yourself and eventually loosing interest. But you also do not want to buy a software that is to simple and technologically limited (lower quality results) because you run the risk of not achieving your full creative potential. The easier the 3D software is to learn and use the more you can focus on the artistic part of the process and less on the technical part. Thus the path from idea / concept / vision to materializing it is smoother and shorter.
I have tested some of these tools available on the market and did a review on my blog. I invite you to take a look.
Categories:
Uncategorized Tags:
The battle of 3D vs 2D continue- The pros and the cons of 3D are apparent- be it the ease of animation which has come as a result of software and also the challenges of character design. With this said my mind glances at 2D and says – 2D is what we have known and loved for a very long time but as times change and people develop- so do our tastes- is there really a place for Bugs Bunny and the Looney Toons or are just ‘old-timers’ like myself and TV station producers grasping at straws- it’s a hard angle and approach I’m taking- but is there really a place for just 2 dimensions in the future?
What has sparked this debate has been the growing trend towards using 3D when making animated films and cartoons series- and all this I have seen on the TV. I can say in the past ten years I have gone from being in awe of the rare inspired vision of ReBoot (first fully 3D kids series) to changing channels past the commercial cash cows of Mickey Mouse Playhouse, Handy Manny, Star Wars – all of which are also fully 3D.Naturally not every production house has access to 3ds Max or Maya- but let’s think 10 or 20 years down the line? What will it be like then? A good example is what I am talking about is that animation power house Disney.
Disney: They only needed 2 Dimensions to tell a story…or did they?
Disney for a long time have been unrivaled in the realm of western 2D animation with hit after hit and it all started with Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse- to this day it is hard to find anyone who doesn’t know about the Mouse that wear red shorts and owns a dog. You were almost guaranteed as a viewer If it was some kind of a fairytale Disney would animate it – Cinderella, Beauty and The Beast, Snow White but to name a few.
Their trademarks in terms of production value were power ballads by top rated singers like Celine Dion, voice actors like Robin Williams, beautiful and detailed animations with characters with fluid movements, detailed facial expressions, animal sidekicks you just had to love- the world was eating out of the palm of their hands for decades.
Then came a little thing called Toy Story in 1995.
What Toy Story did was change the expectations which we had of animations- for one thing, Toy Story was probably one of the most realistic stories Disney had made. It was set in a reasonable facsimile of the present day and the ‘Toys’ were modern too. Suddenly that fantastical world of make believe wasn’t set in the era of knights, sultans or faeries but it was your bedroom- the one you went to sleep in every night.
I would argue at this point that the third ‘D’ that was added by 3D was not depth but realism. We now reach today where Shrek is seen as a part nod back to Disney’s fairytale genre past- back to? ‘The Princess and The Frog’ being the revival- and now we have Tangled the newborn child of the two- the next generation.
Is 2D enough anymore?
Finally I arrive back at the beginning- Shrek vs Bugs Bunny- Pixar vs Looney Toons. Is the audience of today and tomorrow going to be satisfied with Bugs Bunny, Tom & Jerry, Daffy Duck- if they are NOT in 3D? Mickey Mouse and his playhouse has already made the transition.
Underlying my argument and my concerns is the fact that 3D is not a ‘stylistic’ choice but perhaps an epoch- a change of media of sorts. Just like all those years ago a black and white mouse set the stage for the decade- on- decade domination of Disney, defining to an extent what 2D animation was- with more and more 3D animated releases and greater knowledge of 3D software, will the 2D world be relegated to the drawing boards of our 3D masterpieces?
Already, I must comment, I feel 2D story telling is becoming weaker- bland- and repetitive. Perhaps on the fringes with more high-brow film festival animations the world of 2D animation is still alive and well but- how many of these animations are coming forth to the public as we hunger for more Shrek- more UP!- more Wall-E. These are the films bringing in the money- these are the characters that are now on children’s duvet sets and backpacks.
Subsconsciously and quietly the world will change until one day the Mickeys, Bugs Bunnies and Daffies of old will be in the archives for hard core animation students to study and muse over.
Their stories would not have lost their charm or potency but in a world where the enjoyment of animation is defined as being able to see the individual hair strands on the character’s head move as the said character turns his head- I am afraid that 2D animation will be ironically, considering it’s previous commercial and stylistic dominance for animation, as visually unappealing then as black and white films are today.
Categories:
Uncategorized Tags:
In the beginning there were cartoons, 2D cartoons.
In my youth I used to be a ‘Professional Cartoon Watcher’. I used to watch everything and anything- I think it’s reflected in my 3D work today- but I must note that my patterns started to change after the release of Toy Story- the very first one. Part of it was changing opinions in my head but could it also have something to do with the fact that it was in 3D?
I now ask the question: Are 3D cartoons/films better than 2D cartoons/films?
3D and all it has to give:
I think what 3D animated cartoons and films brought to the world of ‘ Toon’ is realism. Suddenly facial features and skin textures became more defined. It became possible to have a character with as much detail as even having individual strands of hair. Everything had more depth- was richer, characters became more human- easier to relate to. The production process was also far quicker- no more frame by frame animating.
The best 3D animation software( and frankly most) have got a thing called ‘Tweening’ – which comes from the word ‘between’ – you can set a start and an end point for your animation and then – the software will calculate and process and fill in the rest. Of course animators still want to have control over their character’s motions but no more is it truly a frame by frame process. It actually hasn’t been for a long time as most 2D production houses now also use software which can do the ‘Tweening” for them.
I believe 3D made animation ‘human’ whilst before it was frankly a ‘super human’ affair for those with dedication and patience (I have a lot of respect for all traditional 2D animators. Try DRAWING 25 images for 1 second of animation- now let’s make a Disney Feature film.)
This is not to say 3D animation is easy- but it most certainly has it’s shortcuts. I would actually say I think character creation in 3D is harder than for 2D. In 2D you can have Charlie Brown in all his simple line art glory as your main character – while with 3D there is always that push for realism- and the added depth means that your character needs to look good and just as good from all sides.
Suddenly where detailed folds in clothing were a bit impractical in 2D cartoons- in 3D, you almost need those folds to make you stand out from the last Pixar film and once you add that fold in- you now have to take into consideration Physics- how is your character moving- what do you want the folds to do as he/she moves….once the realism starts it’s hard to end.
Categories:
Uncategorized Tags:
Power Director 11 Ultimate has the most powerful, quickest video editing ever! Packed full with innovative video technologies to automate and speed up video editing time, support for 4K res formats, and extra premium content to ramp up your video production with pro-looking design styles and templates, it has the most comprehensive set of tools you’ll need. Power Director Ultimate also includes Power Director Mobile for you to create videos on-the-go with your Windows® 8 Tablets.
